Serbia was a wonderful month of ministry for my team and I. We worked with a small church that is so passionate about people. We learned many things about the history and culture of the Serbians. Our heart has grown to love them all abundantly. We had the chance to know a particular family of 4. Lydia and her 3 kids filled our time with much joy and love. They are our family away from home. Although we were sad to leave, they gave us so many happy memories. I will smile everytime I think of them. Below is a few of my favorite moments from Serbia.
We had the opportunity to work with youth ministry every Saturday night. We were many times in charge of music, message and games. I think their favorite part was the games. Not because it was the most fun, but because it gave them a chance to laugh with us. We built so many great relationships through laughter. Above is a picture of the "human-knot"… We never could quite figure out to untangle…
Pastor Dragan is the pastor of the church we worked with. He is such a kind hearted individual. Every Sunday and Thursday night, we had the privilege of hearing him speak. His love for people and the Lord is so apparent. He blessed our team in so many ways. His wife, Kaca, invited us into their home the first day we got there and made us a wonderful meal. They served us the best bread we have had on the Race. We raved so much about it that it was hard to ignore how much we loved it. One Sunday, on our walk home from church, Pastor pulled up in his car and gave us 2 loaves of our favorite bread. I think we embarassed him slightly with our enthusiastic thank yous (he is a very humble person).
Lydia is the wonderful woman we worked with everyday. She is the mother of 3 kids, Aleksander, Adrijana and Miljana. She has a passion for music and a beautiful voice. She leads the congregation into worship every Sunday and Thursday nights. I got the privilege to lead alongside her during my time in Serbia. It was an experience I won't forget as we speak different languages, yet we were able to come together and sing to the same God just the same.
Every Sunday day, we got to visit different villages for "home church". Above are some of the wonderful people we met there. They would feed us physically as we got to feed them spiritually. It was such an amazing time!
This is Aleksander. He is Lydia's oldest child and only son. He speaks excellent English. He was our translator for the entire month. For more on Alex's story, check out my blog "His Name is Aleksander". You must read! We are so thankful for our "big brother". He took great care of us girls. We miss you Alex!
We got to do some fun ministry out in the parks several of the days our squad leaders came to visit (They are awesome guitar players!). It was so neat to see how playing a simple song would attract people to our group. We were able to minister to several people. One family in particular that came back to the Lord and started going to Pastor Dragan's church. We are still praying that the seeds we planted in the two older women, the park owner, the photographer and his family and several other people along the way will continue to be watered. God is doing big things in Pozarevic.
One thing that greatly blessed me in Serbia was how many powerful prayer warriors were apart of the church we worked with. We went to prayer meeting every Tuesday night and would often end our time there in tears. The people we met are just so passionate for the Lord. They trust Him in such big ways. It was such a blessing to be apart of this ministry and be poured into so well.
The beautiful lady on the left is Mama Gotcha. She owned the little house we stayed in for the month. We love this woman! She doesn't speak any English but she would come by every other day with a special meal prepared just for us. She loved us so well! We miss her and her big heart so much!
Maggie, on the far left, loves horses. On the second to last day, Alex took us to the equestrian park about 45 minutes outside of town. We were able to speak with the horse trainer and he offered for us to pay $12 each to ride some horses. It was a slightly terrifying experience as no one spoke much English and the horses turned out to be retired racing horses. However, we had an awesome time riding around the arena. At the end of our time, our friend bought us all coffee and Coca Cola. He ended up only charging us for one person. We were so blessed by this man who was so kind to us even though he didn't know us. It's so fun to be God's favorite =)
There are so many other stories I could share. Serbia was one of my favorite countries. God allowed us to meet so many people! I can't wait to see them again, either here or there.
